Happy Here and Now (2002)

When an unhappy young woman disappears, her worried sister desperately searches the internet for a clue to her missing sibling's whereabouts.

Director:

Michael Almereyda

Writer:

Michael Almereyda

Stars:

Karl Geary, Shalom Harlow, Clarence Williams III

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Karl Geary	...	Eddie Mars / Tom
Shalom Harlow	...	Muriel
Clarence Williams III	...	Bill
Ally Sheedy	...	Lois
Josephine Martin	...	Josephine
Gloria Reuben	...	Hannah
Liane Balaban	...	Amelia
David Arquette	...	Eddie
Isabel Gillies	...	Isabel
Quintron	...	Quintron
Nic Ratner	...	Peter
John Sinclair	...	Himself
Ernie K-Doe	...	Himself
Antoinette K-Doe	...	Herself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Larry Fessenden	...	Clifton

Storyline

In New Orleans, a young woman named Muriel goes missing. Her sister, Amelia, arrives to look for her. Aided by her aunt's lover, an ex-CIA agent named Bill, Amelia finds evidence on Muriel's computer of conversations with a mysterious and philosophical man. Bill and Amelia's search for him is fitful, but we learn that he's Eddie, a local exterminator who wants to produce and direct a movie about Nicholas Tesla. We follow Eddie, full of schemes, and we meet his brother, Tom, a firefighter who may know something about the death of a man whose widow, Hannah, seeks him out. What has happened to Muriel? Is this a world where anything can be known?

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Plot Keywords:

tesla | widow | ex cia agent | exterminator | computer | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 June 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Segunda Vida

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$1,867 (USA) (16 December 2005)

Gross:

$2,443 (USA) (16 December 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

IFC Productions, Keep Your Head Productions, Keep Your Head

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Philosophy Made Moving (and sometimes fun)

HAPPY HERE AND NOW is one strange film. I wish it were on DVD because I very much want to see it again. Encountering it a couple of years back at a festival of the Film Society of Lincoln Center "picks," I was thoroughly mystified even as, moment-by-moment, I enjoyed the movie. The ensemble cast is a really interesting grab-bag of performers (from Karl Geary to Ally Sheedy, Shalom Harlow, David Arquette, even Larry Fessenden), and the writing and direction is by Michael Almereyda, a moviemaker who keeps growing as he matures. What really knocked my socks off, however, is the ending: a phenomenal feat of film editing by Kristina Boden (and, one presumes, Almereyda) that, in a single continuous succession of splices, brings together the entire movie--theme, ideas, feelings, visuals--so beautifully and fully that I found myself in tears. It's the first and only time that film editing has ever had THIS effect on me! Please, someone, bring "Happy Here and Now" to DVD.